Client Project: #ProjectBedding

I was recently at a clients home to review the final purchases for her kitchen/breakfast room/ family room and started discussions for her living / dining room.  Half way through the meeting, her husband swooped in and politely asked "Would you follow me Dawn? I have a few projects of my own I'd like to discuss....."  He continued his brisk walk knowing that I would follow him, as his wife Lisa profusely apologized to me for his abrupt disruption.

This often happens on the off chance he's around when I stop over.  This time, though, my assignment was really fun and an easy one to knock off my list.  He recently purchased art at the Hinsdale Art Fair - a local art fair - for their guest bedroom, and wanted me to select frames and update the bedding using the art as my starting point.

Here is the plan I shared with them:

Client Project: Ranch Project Living Room

I met Carol and Emmett - dubbed my Ranch Project Clients - at a park one day while swinging our respective little ones.  We started talking and discovered that both our boys took baseball together!  Our conversation blossomed from there and before I knew it, Carol mentioned she needed help pulling her home together.  I directed her to my blog to take a look around and told her to give me a call if she was interested in help.

(fabric selections for their room)  

It's that time of year again..........

What time is that, you ask?  It's the time of year that I start dreaming up all of the possibilities the warmer weather brings to enhancing the outdoor spaces of our home!  (We had awesome weather in the 60's and 70's last week and I was actually able to work in our garden, but it snowed on Monday and is a brisk 35 degrees today!  Brrrr.....will this winter weather ever end?)  I'm excited to share that I will be participating in this years Outdoor Extravaganza Link Parties again:

Our hostesses for this year (from left to right) are Kristin, from My Uncommon Slice of Suburbia, Tiffany, from Living Savvy, Angie from Echoes of Laughter, Lucy from Craftberry Bush, Shauna, from Satori Design for Living, and yours truly!

I hope you will mark your calendar to join in the series, starting May 14.  It serves as great motivation to get yourself going on the projects you hope to complete this summer.

Fine Art Giveaway!

In a design world filled with neutrals and simple decor - which I love, don't get me wrong - art is a great way to add color, pattern, texture, and above all, personality into your home!  Art can make a bold statement:

(Suzanne Gibbs Studio, ©July 2013, Cuts and Bruises, encaustic, on canvas wrapped panel, 14 x 11. $720)

Or it can add texture and interest:

(Suzanne Gibbs, Highrise 2, Acrylic, oil and canvas pieces on canvas, 14 x 11. $420)

My Living Room Re-design.... Part 1

I'm quite sure this is going to be a rambling post.  Unlike the projects I've worked on for clients, I haven't put together any succinct "inspiration" board for my own living room re-design.  I've turned ideas over in my head as to how I could nicely present my living room plans.  Yeah, that won't happen because, I suppose, my plans just aren't succinct or thought out!!!  Ha!

(My "in transition" living room)

Ok, that is somewhat untrue.  Succinct?  No.  Thought out?  Yes, kind of.  I've always known that I wanted my living room to have a specific feel: comfortable, cozy and warm while still being light and bright.  Also, relaxed and sophisticated all at once.  Hmmm....  

Client Entryway: Before and After

So....I'm trying to get together a post about plans for our living room re-design.  It's taking me longer than expected because I seem to have lost my mind today.  Organizing photos and thoughts isn't in the plan so, to break up the blog silence I thought I'd share a before and after of an entryway I recently worked on.  If you follow me on Instagram, you may already have seen this one:

And today, a photo taken on my clients iPhone:

Client Progress: Living Room Budget Re-do

Shortly after I started this blog, I started receiving phone calls from people in my community asking me for help with their homes.  Today I'm going to share pictures from the very first couple I helped!  Although we started their makeover about a year ago now, we are still working on pulling the finishing touches together.  

(one of my favorite and most impact-ful features of the room is a pair of Ikea mirrors we added to the TV wall)

They had their second baby shortly after we purchased the upholstered pieces and they wanted to take some time off to adjust to the changed family.  Once we started meeting again and decided on some of the finishing pieces, their basement flooded and they had to redirect funds to fix the basement!

Tudor Project Living Room Design: Before and Progress

Well hello there!  My blog silence has lasted a bit longer than I hoped for; but I hope the wait was worth it.  I'm really excited to share some images and design plans from one of my recent interior design projects. 

(client progress picture)

I've been in process with a few clients for several months now, so I should have several other before and progress pictures from other clients soon, as well.

This summer, I was referred to a couple that recently moved into my neighborhood.  They bought a beautiful historic home with lots of charm and character.  Having moved from a small condo, the couple needed more seating/furniture and wanted to start making purchases for their living room.  However, they had no idea where to start given the large scale of the room (25 ft' x 21 ft including an alcove area) and they were also challenged by the homes architecture.  Furthermore, this home has not been updated much over the years and they had to make some large scale expenditures to make the home more functional for their family.  This of course meant a tighter budget upfront! 

Anyone still listening? I've got a secret!!

Um, hello?  Anyone still out there? 

I've been obviously missing lately from this little blog of mine.  I'm not sure how it happened, but I lost my momentum for a few months there, huh?  It started out by me spending a LOT of time outdoors early in the summer with the boys and working around the house.

We really made an effort this year to work on the landscaping and curb appeal of our home.  I'm really pleased with how everything has turned out and will hopefully be back soon to share some before and after's: 

(how it looks today)

Surprise Valentine Spa Day and Getaway

Last Thursday, my husband surprised me with the news that he had planned a spa day, dinner, and hotel stay for us downtown in the city.  And oh yeah....we were leaving the next morning at 10 am!  Today I thought I'd share with you some of my favorite pictures from our getaway at Allyu Spa and Hotel Monaco.

My Ikea Dining Room

Who DOESN'T love IKEA lately?  I know, I know, the parking lots are HUGE and always jam packed, the product names make me feel like I need a translator to simply ask for help locating an item, I can only hope and pray that I find my way out of the maze they call a store - god help me when I have to double back for something I missed - and once I locate an item I'm seeking on the showroom floor, fingers crossed it is in stock once I finally make my way down to the warehouse. 

I'm tired just thinking about it.

With all that said, their prices and great design make it all worth it, in my opinion.  I tried my hand, for the first time, at using Olioboard to create an IKEA reproduction of a dining room I'm kind of crushing on, and that I found recently on Pinterest (follow me!).  Here is what I came up with:

...and here is my inspiration....

Tiffany Eastmant Interiors

Here are a few other dining rooms that are similar and helped inspire my design:

Six Ideas to Update the Living Room

<a href="http://www.bloglovin.com/blog/4614057/?claim=f57jkbwhfmz">Follow my blog with Bloglovin</a>

I was suprised to see that yesterday I reached 100 e-mail subscriptions to the blog!  I never even considered adding that as an option until someone requested it!  Thanks so much to everyone who stops by here.  :)

Looking through pictures upon pictures of my own home brings to the forefront of my mind all of the changes I want to make!  Don't get me wrong, we've come a long way since we first purchased our home.  However, I'm ready to add the finishing touches to our space.

First Stop:  Living Room.

#1 Shoji White by Sherwin Williams / #2 Safi Rug, West Elm / #3 Ivory Velvet Drape, Pottery Barn / #4 Cleo Table Lamp, Crate and Barrel / #5 Modern Art via

Our basics are in place: seating, media table, side tables, and ottoman.  We also have a lot of pillow and throw options available (I just shop from other areas of my house).  So here are several ideas I've considered to create a finished look for our living room.

Add Life, or Art, to your Walls...

I was recently asked to share my home at another bloggers site and I said "yes, absolutely"!!!  However, I have not shared certain rooms in their entirety because I'm still trying to finish the spaces to a place that I'm happy with.  SOOO...that left me trying to quickly get things together in there so that I wouldn't embarrass myself!  ;)

One thing I needed to add quickly and cheaply to the room was wall art.  Today I will share a few ideas that I came up with to quickly add some life to your walls.  I will be honest, I have not had a chance to implement all of these ideas, but I wanted to save them here for my future reference!  Hope you might find this beneficial as well.

1.  First and foremost, know what you like.  Or follow me on pinterest!!!  ;)  The following snapshot is my Pinterest "Make a Statement with Art" board:

Create a board on Pinterest and start pinning when you see something that catches your eye.  This way you have a frame of reference when you need to make a decision on art.  Because...it just isn't fun to make a hole in the wall and then one week later change your mind about the height, shape, size - whatever - of that picture you just HAD TO HAVE last week.  I speak from experience here.